Q/A and advice for 2012/Future VCE Japanese Students

[hongs-]

How much grammar patterns would you aim for in writing to get a high mark ? I recently did one today, and surprisingly incorporated about 22ish grammar patterns I wrote it in about half an hour I think


And for an essay structure, is it kind of similar to a report type? Would you have to put your name on the second line?

[jibba]

With Grammar patterns I would say 12-13 as a minimum. A good amount is 15+
22 is plenty! I probably had about ~18 in my exam
Well done! If you can finish the writing within 30 minutes, you will do very well in the final exam

You're correct that an essay is pretty much the same as a report style. You put your name (fictional) on the second line and leave one space after the name (so the last box of the second line is blank)

[hongs-]

Thank you!! I feel a little confident knowing that, haha.

[acciodraco]

Going slightly off topic here but, I'll be away for most of December.. will I be behind for year 12? ):
Did you do a lot before you entered year 12?

[jibba]

I don't think you'll be that behind (plus going to japan counts as the best preparation ^^)

I don't think I did too much but....
Kanji was my weakness, so before Year 12 began I learnt all the VCE required Kanji
I also tried to learn a bit of vocab from the textbook
I think I also had my detailed study topic chosen over the summer and started a little bit of research in English (not too much though)
What I mainly did was watch a lot of japanese drama and anime
Doing that helped me a lot as well ^^

[acciodraco]

That sounds pretty good, I'll probs do that too. How about for your other subjects? Ahaha I just started an anime called 'K'. I don't watch anime often, so I don't really know what's good/bad, but so far it's pretty cray. Loving it xD 
 

[jibba]

It might be a bit too late with the exam so soon, but I updated the first post with my exam strategy and some tips.

@acciodraco
I studied Japanese the most over the summer break. I did a little bit of Methods/Spesh exercises but thought it would be better to put a lot of work into Japanese before the semester started. When the semester did start, I was busy with SACs from my other subjects so didn't have time to do tedious things like learning vocab for Japanese. I watched Drama all the time though

[JEStarr]

last minute but how strict are japanese assessors in their marking? especially for reading section where (usually the last question) requires you to sorta make a conclusion (as in a question where you can't really just copy off the given text)? e.g. in 2010 exam, the last question in the reading section. does your answer have to be exactly the same as what's shown in the assessor's report?

[EvangelionZeta]

last minute but how strict are japanese assessors in their marking? especially for reading section where (usually the last question) requires you to sorta make a conclusion (as in a question where you can't really just copy off the given text)? e.g. in 2010 exam, the last question in the reading section. does your answer have to be exactly the same as what's shown in the assessor's report?

I think there is some leeway, but usually you want it to be as close as possible to that answer

[JEStarr]

last minute but how strict are japanese assessors in their marking? especially for reading section where (usually the last question) requires you to sorta make a conclusion (as in a question where you can't really just copy off the given text)? e.g. in 2010 exam, the last question in the reading section. does your answer have to be exactly the same as what's shown in the assessor's report?

I think there is some leeway, but usually you want it to be as close as possible to that answer

ahk thanks
also are articles (for section 3) written in casual form?

[jibba]

I would say the closer you are to their answer, the higher you will score. So they will be quite strict IMO.

You don't have to use exactly the same words they use but you must suggest the same idea. (ie: in the 2010 response, Author wants students to enter universities based own their own interests and career rather than entering universities just because they are famous). In the 2010 exam, they basically wanted a summary of the last paragraph (which showed the author's reasoning) in one sentence to show you understood it.

Also I remember when I did that exam for practice, i got confused with the use of えらんでもらいたい to end the sentence. I myself got the incorrect meaning when doing it in class, I thought it was saying that's what IS happening now. But of course the use of えらんでもらいたい means that is what the author wants to happen in the future. Look out for the endings of sentences!

They didn't have such a question last year, so can't say for sure what will happen tomorrow. But good luck!

Try not to panic. Even with those conclusion type questions, the answer is still in the text. I would suggest to underline words in the text that look relevant (ie: in 2010 exam, 勉強の目的 and 将来の仕事) and use those in your response.
Also look how in responses in the assessors report, the grammar in the text has been changed.
有名な大学ではなくて is altered to 有名な大学に行くより in the assessors report.
きめたほうがいい is altered to えらんだほうがいい

If you can think of tweaking the wording and usage of grammar in the text, that will give you extra marks.

Also, you can write articles in plain form (ie: ending with ～だ、～ある). Don't use casual spoken form as it is a writing piece (ie: ～ちゃった、～なきゃ). The exception is unless you are using something as an example and put the casual speech in quotation marks.

[JEStarr]

I would say the closer you are to their answer, the higher you will score. So they will be quite strict IMO.

You don't have to use exactly the same words they use but you must suggest the same idea. (ie: in the 2010 response, Author wants students to enter universities based own their own interests and career rather than entering universities just because they are famous). In the 2010 exam, they basically wanted a summary of the last paragraph (which showed the author's reasoning) in one sentence to show you understood it.

Also I remember when I did that exam for practice, i got confused with the use of えらんでもらいたい to end the sentence. I myself got the incorrect meaning when doing it in class, I thought it was saying that's what IS happening now. But of course the use of えらんでもらいたい means that is what the author wants to happen in the future. Look out for the endings of sentences!

They didn't have such a question last year, so can't say for sure what will happen tomorrow. But good luck!

Try not to panic. Even with those conclusion type questions, the answer is still in the text. I would suggest to underline words in the text that look relevant (ie: in 2010 exam, 勉強の目的 and 将来の仕事) and use those in your response.
Also look how in responses in the assessors report, the grammar in the text has been changed.
有名な大学ではなくて is altered to 有名な大学に行くより in the assessors report.
きめたほうがいい is altered to えらんだほうがいい

If you can think of tweaking the wording and usage of grammar in the text, that will give you extra marks.

Also, you can write articles in plain form (ie: ending with ～だ、～ある). Don't use casual spoken form as it is a writing piece (ie: ～ちゃった、～なきゃ). The exception is unless you are using something as an example and put the casual speech in quotation marks.

yeah i was a bit confused about the もらいたい part as well after reading the assessor's report.
and thanks for the help!

[sheepgomoo]

last minute questions here as well :X

生徒　and 学生

How are they different and how should i translate them?

[jibba]

@xoangellic

sorry too late, but they both translate to student

[FAyres]

Hi Jibba,

I'm doing Japanese 3/4 this year and we are starting to look towards the detailed study. Now our teacher said that she wants us to choose a topic that we will enjoy and have interest in because it will make the research much funner and the learning alot easier. I asked my teacher if I could do anime and she said I could but because it's quite a popular topic, I would need to find something unique and really interesting about it that would grab the examiners attention. So, I was wondering if you might have any ideas for an anime-related detailed study that is unique and very different???

Also, my speaking skills come close, but my listening skills are the worst. I find that when we do listening practice in class I might hear something and start writing it down but in the process of doing so I lose a sentence or so worth of information and then become lost in the conversation and everything just falls down hill. I hope I make sense. What strategies would you employ and how much listening practise do you do a week?

I noticed that the last post you did was November last year so I'm not so sure that you will reply but I thought I would give it a try!